PROVIDENCE – The Cumberland Hill area in Cumberland is ranked as the most affordable housing market to live in Rhode Island in a SmartAsset study released Tuesday.
The study’s results were obtained by evaluating an affordability index that considered property taxes, homeowner’s insurance fees and mortgage payments relative to income across the state.
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The study included both towns, cities, villages and Census-Designated Places, such as Cumberland Hill; Kingston in South Kingstown; Greenville, the village in Smithfield; and Valley Falls in Cumberland, all of which made the SmartAsset top 10 for Rhode Island affordability.
CDPs are subsets of incorporated municipalities that are used by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes and analysis, but hold no specific legal definition, and there are no population size requirements for CDPs.
In the study, Cumberland Hill had the second lowest average closing cost of any community measured in the state, with an average of $2,570.
The Cumberland Hill average annual property tax of $3,662 was No. 6 for the highest of the 10 towns listed. The average median income, however, $77,164, was the highest of all communities surveyed. This likely contributed to Cumberland Hill’s affordability index of 25.85, the highest of any housing market in the state.
Cumberland Hill was followed by Warwick in No. 2 with an index of 25.73 and Greenville in No. 3 with an index of 21.59.
Pawtucket, No. 8 for most affordable housing market in the state, had the lowest median income of the communities listed, $41,789.
Some details from the study:
- Rhode Island average closing cost was estimated to be $3,249
- The annual property tax average was $3,783
- The state’s annual homeowner’s insurance cost was projected at $1,400
- An average annual mortgage payment was $11,365
- The study estimated the median income of Rhode Island to be $56,852
Despite ranking No. 1 for Rhode Island, Cumberland Hill ranked No. 2,986 in the nation.
The communities listed in the study in order of descending affordability are as follows:
- Cumberland Hill, Cumberland (CDP)
- Warwick
- Greenville, Smithfield (CDP)
- Tiverton
- Valley Falls, Cumberland (CDP)
- Cranston
- East Providence
- Pawtucket
- Kingston, South Kingstown (CDP)
- Westerly
TOP CITIES, TOWNS AND CDPs in Rhode Island for affordability. / COURTESY SMARTASSET
Kyle Borowski is a PBN contributing writer.
